Human trafficking convictions show existence of troubling crime in Colorado
The threats and toll of human trafficking in Colorado arose for discussion again after two big cases involving human trafficking last week.
William Tidwell, 52, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after conviction in the 17th Judicial District based in Adams County of charges including human trafficking for sexual servitude, sexual exploitation of a child and sexual assault. Kenneth Noel, 34, was convicted by a jury in the 18th Judicial District based in Arapahoe County, of attempting human trafficking of a minor, human trafficking of an adult, pimping and sexual assault on a child. Noel is scheduled to be sentenced May 23.
"Human trafficking is almost a $10 billion per year for profit industry in the United States. Globally, it's about $150 billion in profit," said Jacob Kremin, chief deputy district attorney in the 19th Judicial District. "It's devastating. Frankly, when I started doing this work several years ago, as our dedicated human trafficking prosecutor, it was tough to believe some of these statistics."
Its victims are often young, with many sought out on average between the ages of 13-14. Two 14-year-old girls were in the back of a BMW along with Noel and a young woman stopped on Interstate 70 by a Colorado State Patrol trooper in June of 2020. They initially gave the trooper fake names. Soon the story unraveled, though.
"They were runaways. They had been involved in the system with foster care multiple times. And when you have a flashy guy showing you money and guns and saying he's a rapper, you tend to think that's cool. It's also kind of scary when you're on the run and it's hard to leave a situation like that," said Jenelle Goodrich, founder and executive director of the nonprofit From Silenced to Saved. It provides case management to victims all the way from when investigations are initiated until after court to help them get their lives back together.
Goodrich notes that the perpetrators use a bond of trauma to draw their victims in.
"Every story is different because every single person is their own individual. But what I will tell you is that most traffickers target their victims with vulnerability. Whether that's foster system, whether that's broken home situation, whether that's an addiction problem that they have, whatever that is, they're going to exploit it and use it and they're going to become the person to fill that, to create that trauma bond then use it," she said.
The two girls in Noel's car told law officers they thought they were going to Las Vegas to work as strippers. But the car had been headed east and investigators believe Noel was taking them to Houston. There's a circuit, explained Goodrich.
"It's something called 'the blade' and you have it in major cities like Oklahoma City, L.A., Houston, Dallas and Denver is one of them as well," said Goodrich. "The blade is a lot of time where commercial sex workers will be put on the street by pimps to do car dates and create money."
In the case in Adams County, detectives said William Tidwell lured vulnerable individuals, primarily young women in difficult situations, by promising them stability and support before subjecting them to sexual servitude. Tidwell reportedly found minors online. His case had another odd aspect to it as well.
"Tidwell was arrested in August 2023 in Idaho Springs after a female hiker reported that she was sexually and physically assaulted by a man pretending to be a member of a search and rescue operation."
What many people think about trafficking is incorrect, says Goodrich.
"People don't understand is that it's not like the movies. And you see a lot of these blogs and neighborhood sites talk about 'Oh, somebody left something on my car,'" she explained, "Or somebody is stalking me to steal me. Kidnapping is less than 1% of human trafficking. It's more about luring. It's about creating a trauma bond."
"What we know about human trafficking is that if you are pulled into this life and you never get out, the average life expectancy is only 7 years," said Kremin. "We're talking about victims who are subjected to almost 900 sexual partners a year. The leading causes of death are from homicide or sexually transmitted diseases, often followed very closely by suicide There's very often physical abuse and sexual abuse that happens at the hands of traffickers and their clients."
There is help. Anyone in imminent danger should call 911. For less urgent calls there is also the National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888.
Jenelle Goodrich's organization can be found at fsts.org.
